The Core Value of Third Party Logistics
The core value provided by third-party warehousing companies is ensuring FBA compliant Amazon Shipments. One of the biggest hurdles of being an Amazon seller is to ensure that every shipment, every carton and every unit, delivered to Amazons Fulfillment Centers gets accepted and quickly received. If a single FBA regulation is missed, the shipment will be on hold, needing expensive and time-consuming work before the new inventory will be reflected in the Amazon Sellers Account. Such a miss can be very costly to any ecommerce business.
Third-party Warehouse Centers work endlessly to ensure that every shipment forwarded to Amazon is FBA compliant. By directing amazon shipments to stop at a U.S. based warehouse prior to shipping it to FBA, many of the compliance errors can be caught and fixed in a timely and more cost-effective way than at an Amazon fulfillment center.
Here are the main fba prep and ship services 3PL’s offer to ensure FBA compliance:
- FBA Pallets
- FBA Compliance Inspections
- Amazon labels:
Suffocation warning label
Do not separate label
Oversize/team lift label
FNSKU label
Made in China label - Bundling
- Package Inserts
- Polybagging
- Forwarding to Amazon
Many incoming FBA shipments from China arrive on pallets that are not FBA compliant. Pallets that are not compliant include plastic pallets, plywood pallets and pallets with wooden planes going the direction of the length of the pallet. The only FBA compliant pallet is the wooden pallet with 4-way planes. Most 3PL companies will receive such shipments but require that the pallets be replaced before being forwarded to FBA. FBA pallet prices can vary.
Most amazon prep warehouses provide Amazon repackaging services to ensure the size and weight of all cartons are FBA Compliant. Occasionally, shipments also require repackaging for damaged cartons and pallets.
There are many label requirements for FBA shipments and most fba prep service in California offer competitive pricing on these services. All amazon products have to meet the Amazon FBA label requirements with for oversized products, hazardous materials, country of origin etc. Third-party warehouse centers specialize in ensuring that all products, cartons and pallets are labeled and packaged after FBA regulations prior to leaving their facilities.
The Amazon logistics and supply chain is extensive and detailed. We have only covered a margin of the regulations and restrictions that Amazon Fba enforces, and it takes a team of experts to inspect and double-check that nothing is missed. Amazon Sellers with large quantity of products could stand to benefit from employing a third-party warehousing center to ensure their shipment’s FBA compliance or by employing their supplier to ensure FBA compliance.